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## DISCUSSION GERMANY/CT-The Story Behind Germany's Terror Threat

Released on 2012-08-12 00:00 GMT

Email-ID | 1633021
Date | 2010-11-22 16:28:56
From | sean.noonan@stratfor.com
To | analysts@stratfor.com

Great report from Der Spiegel (thanks Mikey). I suggest anyone interested
to read the whole thing. They ask the right questions, and while not as
much detail as I hoped, give us a much better understanding on the threat
in Germany.
The BKA (germany's FBI) must be extremely busy verifying the details of
this virtual walk-in. It obviously caused the germans to shit their
pants. But the real questions are buried in the article---how real was
this plot, how real is the source, is the source just trying to get back
to the land of brezeln and bier? Trying to double-cross them somehow?
Also note the tip off from the FBI (cue fred), not the usual CIA liaison
with BND.
For Eurasia, there's a lot in here on the internal politics of the
interior minister position, and the relation between state and federal
government.
On 11/22/10 8:55 AM, Michael Wilson wrote:
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [OS] GERMANY/CT-The Story Behind Germany's Terror Threat
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2010 08:38:21 -0600
From: Graham Smith <graham.smith@stratfor.com>
Reply-To: The OS List <os@stratfor.com>
To: os@stratfor.com
11/22/2010 11:38 AM
Fears of a Mumbai Redux
The Story Behind Germany's Terror Threat
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,730377,00.html
By Matthias Bartsch, Yassin Musharbash and Holger Stark
Germany is currently in a state of high alert. Security officials are
warning that they have concrete information pointing to a possible
terror attack on the federal parliament building in Berlin, a massively
popular tourist attraction. The days of Interior Minister Thomas de
Maiziere's reserved stances in dealing with such warnings appear to be
over.
The call came from abroad, and the man speaking hurriedly on the other
end of the line sounded as if he feared for his life. He wanted out, he
told the officers of the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) --
out of the terrorist scene. He wanted to come back to Germany, back to
his family. Then he asked if German officials could help him.
Right now, they're trying to do just that. The BKA is pursuing the case
under the codename "Nova." The apparently remorseful man could be an
important possible whistleblower from a dangerous region of the globe.
In fact, he is also the most recent reason why German Interior Minister
Thomas de Maiziere put the entire country in a state of fright on
Wednesday.
During a hastily called press conference that day, de Maiziere stated
that Germany faced the threat of terrorist attacks that might be
launched against the country at some point in November. As he put it,
Germany is "presently dealing with a new situation."
Just two days earlier, the source had called for the third time in just
a short period and provided more information. He told officials that a
small group of terrorists wanted to conduct a raid on the Reichstag
building in Berlin, which houses the federal parliament, and that that
was only one of the targets included in their attack plans.
Germany on High Alert
Since then, Germany has been in a state of high alert. The Reichstag is
surrounded with barricades and its popular cupola tourist attraction
temporarily closed to visitors. Police armed with submachine guns are
patrolling major railway stations and airports. And vacations have been
called off for officials at the country's security agencies. Wherever
they have cause for doing so, the authorities are secretly monitoring
communications, conducting surveillance operations and launching
undercover investigations. At the moment, investigators seem to be at a
loss; their modus operandi: "We'll prod the shrubs and see if we can
flush out any birds."
"There is cause for worry, but no cause for hysteria," de Maiziere
assured his listeners. But while he has never been much of an agitator,
his colleagues at the state level have described the situation in much
more drastic terms. Uwe Schu:nemann, for example, who has been the
interior minister of the northwestern state of Lower Saxony since 2003,
stated that he had "never experienced a heightened security situation
like this one." And Berlin Senator for the Interior Ehrhart Ko:rting,
whose position is tantamount to that of a government minister in the
city-state, has already even gone so far as to call on the inhabitants
of the German capital city to report suspicious-looking individuals of
Arab origin to the police. "If you suddenly see three somewhat
strange-looking men who are new to your neighborhood, who hide their
faces and who only speak Arabic," Ko:rting said, "you should report them
to the authorities."
Under heightened pressure, officials in Germany's 16 federal states are
now checking to see when and where major events are scheduled to take
place this coming week within their boundaries. And nothing suggested as
a possible target is being discounted, no matter how unlikely. For
example, officials in Rhineland-Palatinate warned the state's interior
minister, Karl Peter Burch, that there was always a lot going on at IKEA
stores on Saturdays.[WTF]
Serenity, Scaremongering and Strategy
Since last week, German politicians at both the state and federal levels
have once again had to figure out how they will handle themselves when
making warnings about terrorist attacks. They have had to come up with a
language that can simultaneously convey both an alert and a sense of
calm.
This is no easy task. For one thing, this isn't the first time this has
happened. In September 2009, for example, right before federal elections
were held, there were concrete threats that resulted in a heightened
security situation. But, in the end, nothing happened. This time around,
people are wondering whether they are on the precipice of an emergency
or whether these are once again empty threats.
Still, one thing is certain: For the time being, Germany has become a
different country -- more nervous, more anxious, more agitated. And
Germany's domestic security policies are being put to the test.
When Interior Minister de Maiziere assumed his office in October 2009 in
conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel's government, he aimed to cool
down the heated sense of alarm regularly fanned out by his predecessors.
What's more, the man who had served as Merkel's chief of staff in
Chancellery until being moved to the role of interior minister in her
new government, was given the task of nurturing a more relaxed
relationship between her party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU),
and its new coalition partner, the business-friendly Free Democratic
Party (FDP). In particular, it was his job to not draw out the
long-standing conflict over domestic security policies with the Justice
Ministry, which has been led since the 2009 election by Sabine
Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, a member of the FDP. Indeed, Merkel feared
that the quarrelsome FDP might try to capitalize on the issue to win
over more voters, so she assigned de Maiziere to prevent that from
happening.
In fact, the plan was to repeat the same strategy that the CDU and its
Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), had used when
they were in the so-called "grand coalition" with the center-left Social
Democratic Party, between 2005 and 2009. At the time, they made a point
of undermining the SPD by championing what had traditionally been the
latter party's issues.
A Game-Changer
But now the game plan has changed. This November will drastically alter
de Maiziere's understanding of his role in office. If he tries to return
things to their previous state of calm, he's going to have a very tough
time. In fact, it's much more likely that he will be a completely
different interior minister.
For a while now, de Maiziere's softer stance has prompted opposition by
politicians on the right involved with domestic security issues. But
they are now calling louder than ever for a tougher course to be
followed. Merkel is also adjusting to the new situation and is
reportedly happy with the way de Maiziere handled himself last week.
Likewise, no one seems to have voiced any criticism last Thursday
evening during a meeting of the Coalition Committee, a regular gathering
of the parties that are part of the government.
The almost complete lack of protest has a lot to do with where the
alarming information is coming from. In fact, information regarding the
supposedly imminent attacks has come from two independent sources.
Shortly before receiving the telephone call about the planned attacks,
BKA officials had received a cable from their American counterparts at
the FBI, America's federal police force, warning of possible attacks.
Still, what truth is there in these "security-related" pieces of
information coming from both domestic and foreign sources? And, given
all the discrepancies in the warning messages, just how much do they
deserve to be trusted? Indeed, even among security officials themselves,
there is some doubt about how legitimate these statements are -- and
about just how acute the danger threatening Germany really is.
An Attack Modelled after Mumbai[plot details in this section]
What the caller reported was undeniably alarming. According to him,
al-Qaida and associated groups based in Pakistan were making joint
preparations for an attack in Germany. One idea was to remotely detonate
a bomb using a mobile phone. Another called for a small group of
terrorists to storm the Reichstag with guns blazing, take hostages and
end everything in one calamitous bloodbath. Indeed, BKA officials
learned that the latter plan had been modeled on the storming of luxury
hotels in Mumbai, the Indian capital, almost exactly two years ago, in a
massacre that left 175 people dead.
According to the caller, the plan called for the terrorists to procure
the submachine guns, automatic rifles, explosives and whatever else they
would need to storm Germany's parliament building in the Balkans. He
said that two men had already traveled to Germany six to eight weeks
earlier, adding that one had the nom de guerre of "Abu Mohammed" and
that the other one was a German of Turkish origin. Both apparently had
roots in the Greater Berlin metropolitan area, were currently unemployed
and living off of welfare payments and had immersed themselves in the
anonymity provided by a major city -- until the time should come for
their activation.
Likewise, there were allegedly four other volunteers -- including a
German, a Turk, a North African and another jihadist of unknown identity
-- in the training camps run by al-Qaida and related groups waiting for
the signal to travel to Germany. And, according to the telephone source,
al-Qaida's plan was to attack in February or March.
The only question now relates to just how credible the caller's
statements are. He is an insider who joined up with armed groups several
months ago and has earned a reputation as a fanatic fighter.
But could it be that he is only trying to tell German officials the
juiciest things possible in order to raise his own market value and
thereby prompt them to extract him from the terror scene? Or could it be
that al-Qaida is even planning a second spectacular coup like the one in
December 2009, when the Americans allowed a supposedly top-level
turncoat onto an American military base without any sort of pat-down,
who went on to detonate his explosive vest and blow seven CIA officials
to bits?
A Strange Message
A clear picture has yet to emerge. And one reason for this is also the
fact that it was only two weeks ago that the FBI first decided to share
information about another possible attack with German officials.
In this case, even the way contact was made was unusual. Under normal
circumstances, liaisons from the CIA station in Germany are the ones to
communicate American warnings to their German counterparts. But, this
time around, it was an apparently particularly anxious FBI that chose to
directly notify the BKA.
The FBI told the Germans about an obscure Indian group called "Saif," or
"sword." Despite being a Shiite group, it had allegedly made a pact with
al-Qaida, a Sunni organization, and sent five of its men to the
Pakistani province of Waziristan for training. According to the FBI, two
volunteers -- who were already equipped with visas allowing them to
travel freely within the 25 European countries belonging to the Schengen
zone -- were supposedly already en route to Germany and would enter the
United Arab Emirates on Monday, Nov. 22. There, they would allegedly be
provided with new travel documents before traveling on to Germany. One
of the men is supposedly named "Khan," which is about as common in that
part of the world as "Smith" is in English-speaking countries. And no
firm conclusion had been made about their nationalities.
The FBI agents even named the presumed masterminds behind the operation.
A certain Mushtaq Altaf Bin-Khadri, who is in charge of finances and
training for "Saif," allegedly dispatched the terrorist squad. But the
FBI was not in a position to comment on the targets of the two men in
Germany.
One name came up time and again in the communique, and one that pricked
the Germans' ears: Dawood Ibrahim. The 54-year-old arms trader is
"India's most-wanted man." The US government has listed him as a "global
terrorist" and persuaded the United Nations to place his name on a list
of supporters of terror. Ibrahim is rumored to be the head of D-Company,
a criminal syndicate named after himself, and is believed to be in
charge of smuggling the suspected terrorists into Germany.
Both the FBI and the BKA are attaching a lot of importance to the
information in the FBI communique. But the intelligence services of the
two countries -- the CIA in the United States and the BND and Office for
the Protection of the Constitution in Germany, the country's foreign and
domestic intelligence agencies, respectively -- point to internal
contradictions as reasons for their skepticism. As they see it, for
example, it is highly unlikely that a Shiite group would team up with
Sunni terrorists, especially since a good part of al-Qaida propaganda
vilifies Shiites. Other reasons for doubt include the facts that none of
the intelligence agencies was previously familiar with an organization
called "Saif," that there have been no previously recorded threats
against Germany by Indian extremists, and that the whole scenario seems
rather implausible.
On the other hand, the FBI information is uncommonly concrete. In
addition to the names of the suspects, it also provides information
about the exact day on which they are supposed to arrive in the United
Arab Emirates. Moreover, Ibrahim is believed to be one of the men behind
the terror attacks in Mumbai. If he really is involved, that alone would
be reason enough for worry.
Abnormal Circumstances
Under normal circumstances, a message of this kind from the United
States would no doubt be cause for serious-minded scrutiny, but it would
not be a cause for alarm. For example, the BKA would go through all
recent visa applications, and federal police officers would take a
closer look at all the people entering Germany from Arab states. And the
intelligence services would make the rounds to see if any of its
partners had any helpful information on the matter.
Indeed, under normal circumstances, there are always a lot of these
communiques, most of which turn out to be false alarms. But these are no
normal circumstances. Germany is in a state of emergency. Other
countries, such as the United States, employ a system of official
warning levels based on color codes that change -- from yellow to
orange, for example -- when the danger level is thought to increase.
But, in Germany, the interior minister is the barometer: He consults
with experts -- and then it is he who must call the shots.
For the minister, a situation like this presents a dilemma. If he
remains silent and something happens, he's a failure. If he makes loud
warning and nothing happens, he's just a rabble-rouser trying to push
through controversial tougher security laws. And, of course, the public
never thanks you if everyday life continues in a normal, peaceful way.
Absolute Security Remains a Pipe Dream
When de Maiziere became Germany's interior minister, he had planned to
lead the ministry in a level-headed way. For example, he prefers to use
phrases such as "internal calm" rather than "internal security." And it
was only six weeks ago that he uttered the sentence: "There's no cause
for alarm." But, since then, the chorus of warning voices has only
ballooned in size.
This change in course is the combined result of everything that happened
beforehand. It might very well turn out that the alleged Indian terror
squad stays home and that the raid on the Reichstag never happens. But
what will remain is a well-founded supposition that there is a critical
mass of terrorists in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan
that is thinking about launching attacks in Europe -- and certainly in
Germany, as well.
Raw Nerves
Given such circumstances, there is a major sense of alarm among German
officials. Last Thursday, just a day after de Maiziere's shocking press
conference, the BKA issued a press release "in connection with the
current high-risk situation." It reported that a piece of suspicious
luggage had been discovered a day earlier in Windhoek, the capital of
Namibia, before being loaded onto a plane bound for Germany. The laptop
bag contained batteries, wires, a detonator and a clock -- in other
words, all the ingredients you need for a potential airborne
catastrophe.
It sounded as if another terror plot had been foiled. Had there been a
plan to blow up Air Berlin Flight 7377 en route to Munich? And had the
authorities, yet again, discovered an explosive device at the last
minute? In the end, all the worry was unfounded. As it turned out, the
piece of luggage was a test device built by a company that designs "real
test" suitcases to be used to test security measures. It remains unclear
who checked the bag in. But the fact that the BKA was so quick to go
into alarm mode -- and publicly so -- has been a communications debacle.
Of course, these days, nobody wants to be the one that wasn't
sufficiently circumspect, the one who took too long to speak up. No one
wants a replay of situations like the one from the beginning of
November, when de Maiziere didn't know for hours whether the package
that had arrived at the Chancellery contained actual explosives or was
just a false alarm. Now, the threshold for sounding the alarm is already
much lower.
Bonded by Fear
Of course, you can never be too sure. Over the last 12 months, a series
of attacks concocted in the Afghan-Pakistani border region have been
foiled in the West. For example, in May, a car bomb set in New York's
Times Square by a man with ties to the Pakistani Taliban failed to
properly detonate. In Copenhagen, al-Qaida had made plans to storm the
offices of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper as revenge for its 2005
publishing of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. In October 2009,
David Headley, an American citizen with Pakistani roots, was arrested
after having already visited the newspaper's offices in order to scout
them out before the planned attack. Other targets reportedly included
the subway systems of New York City and Washington.
On the other hand, absolute security is a pipe dream. For example,
British authorities had even conducted rehearsals for how to respond to
possible attacks. But, even so, when attacks claiming 56 lives
(including those of four attackers) did strike London, on July 7, 2005,
they were unable to prevent them. Likewise, US intelligence services had
warned India a number of times that terrorists were planning attacks in
Mumbai.
The new situation in Germany has at least had one positive side effect:
For the time being, the traditionally quarrelsome interior ministers
from both the state and the federal levels have refrained from their
usual bickering. Following informal talks held last Thursday in Hamburg,
Minister Bruch of Rhineland-Palatinate noted that he had "never
experienced such harmony within this group" that has apparently been
bonded together by their shared fear.
Translated from the German by Josh Ward
--
Sean Noonan
Tactical Analyst
Office: +1 512-279-9479
Mobile: +1 512-758-5967
Strategic Forecasting, Inc.
www.stratfor.com